A myth that “ambulance services are only emergency services” prevails widely in the minds of many people. Initiatives to spread the awareness of, the existence of non-emergency ambulance services which are usually referred as private ambulance services, has become inevitable in today’s world where there is an increasing demand for medical transportation services.

Numerous private ambulance services are in the rise, competing in the medical transportation services verticals of the healthcare industry. Patients especially senior citizens experiencing travelling difficulties in normal vehicles due to their age and medical conditions, patients who transit from one hospital facility to another for any further treatments, patients who visit hospitals as out patients for consultations or medical tests thought not suffering from any urgent critical medical conditions yet unable to travel in normal vehicles, patients who need to be transported to any diagnostic centres for scans, laboratory tests, maternity travel etc., benefit from such private ambulance services. Also, patients who get discharged from hospitals and those who require periodic hospital visits for further monitoring and check-ups can avail such medical transportation services offered by non-emergency ambulance services usually referred as private ambulance service providers.

The infrastructure of such non-emergency ambulance services is quite sophisticated with basic life support (BLS) equipment, wheel chairs, stretchers and personnel. Private ambulance services with Advanced Life Support (ALS) infrastructure are also available to fulfil the needs of patients. Paramedics who are trained in first aid procedures accompany the patients to take due care during transportation. Private ambulance services pertain to different modes of transport such as road, air and even across seas. Choosing appropriate transport correlates with the patient’s medical condition, purpose and ability to travel.

Here are few quick bytes to ponder before availing private ambulance services:

1. Decide on the mode of transport based on the hospital, location and purpose of travel.
2. Browse the available private ambulance services in your area that offer hospital transport for patients. This search may be done online as every business is digitized with the advent of information technology.
3. Ensure the patients’ medical records are compiled systematically as private ambulance service providers would perform a thorough check on patients’ background and medical history as it is a delicate service which deals with patients’ lives though their medical condition is not critical.
4. Verify the credibility of the private ambulance services in terms of infrastructure setup of the ambulance, basic medical equipment, paramedics who accompany the patients - their knowledge, skill and dedicated service and of course last but not least the cost factor.
5. A comparative study on such non-emergency medical services would certainly aid in making the right choice that would suffice your requirements. Comparative analysis may be performed based on the goodwill and positive reviews earned by private ambulance services in the healthcare domain. Many online resources provide reviews and ratings based on the services rendered and customer testimonials for all business sectors thus easing our search for the right service providers to suit our requirements.
6. Make sure appropriate arrangements are done at the hospital facility where the patients are received for treatments or diagnosis. Plan the travel accordingly including the medical procedure duration at the hospital facility so that private ambulance services can be booked in advance for the specified time slot that includes the to and fro travel distance / time and duration of the medical procedures at the hospital. This avoids chaos for both patients and medical transportation services.
7. Grievances or complaints should be raised, if any. Patients or patients’ attenders should never hesitate or compromise on raising such issues as private ambulance services are susceptible to patient satisfaction, responsibility and dedicated service unlike other business and such grievance addressal would definitely help them to sustain in the healthcare industry improving their goodwill among patients.